EARS FoundersGail Bowen & Jaye Perrett

ABOUT GAIL BOWEN

EARS ART BY GAIL BOWEN-EARS TWO TIGERS

BETTY & GAIL

EARS ART BY GAIL BOWEN-EARS COUGAR

Gail Bowen became aware of the endangered status of tigers while traveling in India and Nepal over 20 years ago. She rode on the back of an elephant in the Royal Chitwan region to gain a first hand glimpse at the majestic tiger in his natural environment.

Since that experience, Gail has studied and read extensively and has become an advocate for big cats. She began volunteering 30 years ago, and 5 years later founded her own facility-Imperial farms, today known as EARS.Gail's extensive knowledge of exotics and her willingness to share this knowledge has culminated in the creation of a student internship program at EARS. Students have come from colleges and universities throughout the United States, as well as many other countries, for the opportunity to learn from Gail. She also serves as a mentor to many other sanctuaries, and is sought out as an expert by the media because of her years of experience and excellent safety practices.

Gail is extremely dedicated to the residents of EARS. Her mission is to give the best quality of life possible to every single creature living at the sanctuary. Even with the help of volunteers and staff, the daily work is never-ending & physically demanding, yet, it is never thankless. The animals truly are thankful to have a safe, secure, and loving home for life.Gail is also an accomplished artist and, if time permits, she plans on adding her work to the EARS Gift Shop. Here are some of Gail's paintings above.Click on any painting to go to Gail's Art Gallery to view all of her EARS Art!

ABOUT JAYE PERRETT

Jaye & Zhivah

Jaye & Sissy

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH...

Jaye Perrett has dedicated her entire adult life to the protection, preservation and well-being of all animals. At the age of 18, she began volunteering with the Humane Society as an Animal Cruelty Officer. She later became a Deputy Sheriff in charge of the Animal Cruelty Dept. with the Marion County Sheriff's Department.

After 30 years of service to the animals, Jaye sustained a permanent disabling injury while saving the life of a dog. Devastated by the fact that she could no longer fulfill her duties as a Deputy, Jaye knew that she had to find some way to stay involved with helping animals. She always had a love for tigers, lions and other endangered big cats so she and Gail Bowen, founded EARS in 2001. Jaye worked tirelessly following hurricane Katrina in 2004 to evacuate hundreds of stranded animals and bring them to Florida. With the help of a generous donor, she reopened a closed building that had once served as an animal shelter, and founded the Katrina Animal Rescue Sanctuary(KARS). Jaye worked night and day to clean, evaluate and treat hundreds of cats, dogs and other animals. The majority of these animals were eventually reunited with their owners or adopted by other loving families. For the few that weren't, a new shelter was set up on the grounds of EARS, where these animals would have a permanent home.

Jaye and Gail have seen many sanctuaries struggling and being forced to close their doors due to an inability to feed their animals. Jaye started a meat co-op to begin an extensive effort to help distribute food to these facilities at reduced rates, delivering food throughout the southeastern United States. This on-going effort has prevented the euthanasia of countless animals.

Jaye's supreme efforts and love of the animals has also resulted in her being nominated for Animal Planet's Hero of the Year Award, both in 2008 and 2009. Below is one of the nominations that was sent in about her efforts to feed as many big cats as possible: "Jaye Perrett, retired animal cruelty officer and permanently disabled, delivers food to exotic animal sanctuaries throughout the southeast helping the caregivers struggling with the huge expense of feeding formerly abused and endangered animals and preventing the euthanasia of many big cats. She and her three rescue dogs, travel throughout the night often sleeping in her truck so the food is fresh when delivered.

Jaye has dealt with many blown tires, engine problems, breakdowns, fires and extreme fatigue while on the road which often includes personally getting under the truck or trailer to do the repairs herself.

In spite of daily extreme pain, resulting from her disability, she never waivers from her vision. She takes no income from her endeavors so she can keep the food affordable for those who need her help. Jaye’s lifelong, no-nonsense commitment to humane and compassionate treatment of all animals is an inspiration to everyone who has the pleasure of knowing her and she has encouraged others to become more involved in animal welfare."

Did You Know Jaye Perrett Could Sing? Click the Audio Player Below to Hear Jaye's Rendition of Colors of the Wind!

Jaye felt this song was the perfect theme song for EARS, when EARS began in 2001. This version of “Colors of the Wind” is performed by Jaye & her band.

The song poetically presents the Native American viewpoint that the earth is a living entity where humankind is connected to everything in nature. Described as a "stirring anthem to animism", this song is Pocahontas' exhortation to John Smith about the wonders of the earth and nature, including the spirit within all living things, encouraging him not to think of them as things he can conquer or own, but rather as beings to respect and live with in harmony. She also urges him to accept humans who are different in appearance and culture and to learn from them.-Wikipedia